The meeting was called to order at 5:15 p.m. on Dec 20, 2009 by President Bill Howe.

Twelve members were present. The 50/50 was won by Marc Slocum. The fishing jig donated by John Hahn was won by John Slocum and the pheasant feather mount was won by Lee Stockton.

Thirteen of our new hats with logo were available at the meeting. Eight were sold at the meeting. The hats were done by Dave O’Shea and came out nice.

President’s list:

IFH fur auction did not go as well as it usually does. Only two buyers showed up and the prices paid for furs reflected the non-competitive situation. Prices were, to say the least, low.

Bill still has some IFH raffle tickets available.

Treasurer’s report was accepted as given. All bills will be paid.

Minutes were accepted as written.

Round table:

Shirley Howe noted that Marie Shea has sent us a card wishing all a happy holiday. She sent a check for Shirley to give to the Solon Sportsmen’s Club to help them with their heating bill. Very thoughtful, Marie. I’m sure Solon will appreciate it.

Marc Slocum brought up the letter to the editor in the Cortland Standard that came from the Cortland Federation supporting the idea of allowing rifle hunting in Cortland County. Mark noted that the Trapper Association was not in favor of this idea. President explained that the Federation has voted to support the rifle even though the Association voted no. The Federation is still ruled by the majority and the majority voted to support this resolution. Even a straw vote taken at this meeting showed that all but one member did not support the idea of allowing rifle hunting in Cortland County. Art suggested that if you feel strongly enough, write to your representatives and let them know how you feel. Dick Beckwith brought up the lack of deer sightings in his area. Coyotes? Management problems? Or just bad luck.

John Slocum discussed the furs we have on hand or that we need. Bill Howe will purchase what we need and will go for quality instead of quantity.

Hugh McDonald will bring the food for next month.

Lee Stockton will do a demo next month. He noted that he was the victim of a robbery while in the hospital and lost a lot of stuff. Lee had a gizmo with him that he uses to bait mink and other little critters. He showed us the piece of PVC and a couple of steel rods that even I could understand how it worked. Lee has to be the king of modification in the trapper world.

John Slocum felt sorry for us and made one of his super crock pot full of stuff and I guarantee nothing went home with him except the pot.

Thank you John.

Nomination of Officers:

President — Bill Howe

Vice President — John Slocum

Treasurer — Joan Manz

Secretary — Art Manz

We did everything except vote. You still have time to get your name in the mix.

The animals are heading for the crock pot and I will not get in the way.

Adjourned at 6:45 p.m.

Respectfully submitted.

— Art Manz

ERIE COUNTY REPORT

Our family Christmas party was well attended with a record number of youngsters that kept our elves busy passing out presents. Thanks to everyone who brought a dish to pass and for participating in the gift exchange. We began our evening with a nice round of applause for the Hamburg Rod & Gun Club for their generosity throughout the last year, and a special thanks to Rick Walton for opening the club each month. The second Sgt Daniel Shaw Youth Award was presented to Shawn Klager for his dedication to the club and for helping at the fair and adopt-a-highway, just to name a few. We presented him with a plaque and a $50 gift. Gabe Gallason was given a Jr. membership and club patch for his help at the fair. Next we presented Aurora with the “Top Dog Award”.

She was given special treats and Rich got a framed picture collage of her work at this year’s fair. Being a husky, she did not show as much enthusiasm for the award as Rich did! Travis McNichol read a nice letter thanking the trappers for sending him to the D.E.C. summer camp. He enjoyed his week-long stay at Camp , and had a fun time learning how to cook over a campfire during the remote tent sleep-over! Congratulations to Debbie Schillaci, our new “Trapper of the Year”.

Deb has been a very active member, helping out at many of our club events. She is our video librarian and membership co- secretary. She will receive her plaque at the Erie County Federation of Sportsmen’s Clubs Award Banquet on March 6. Five youngsters read their essays and received the “Herb Eble Award”. Fur Harvester bags were filled with traps, stretchers, lures, books, fur combs and one-year memberships in ECTA and NYSTA. Extra items were club patches, trap tags, compasses and key chains.

Thanks to Andy from the Griz shop, Rich and Harold for their donations. The kids did a great job on their essays and enjoyed the trapping supplies. Congratulations to Brad Smolinski, Zachary Kelly, Derek and Kody Pingrey and Bradlely Fontaine. Finally, we drew Andie Delisle’s name for our Appreciation Award. She won’t have to go far to use her $50 gift certificate for S&S Taxidermy. For those of you who don’t know, she works there! Our 50/50 was won by lucky Rich, and the split went to pay for our party pizzas. Congratulations to all the award winners!

Our Auction will be held at S&S Taxidermy & Archery Pro Shop on Rt. 219 in Springville on Saturday, Feb. 6, 2010. Check in at 8 a.m., auction starts at 10 a.m. We will need plenty of help and will set up late on Friday night. Please call Patti if you want to help or for more information call 716-337-2556. Scouts will be on hand to serve up food.

It is not too early to start thinking of the W.N.Y. Sport & Travel Expo at the Fairgrounds. The Dates are March 12-15. The 12th and 13th times are noon-9, 10 a.m.-8 p.m. on the 14th, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. on the 15th. New this year, we will not set up the day before. The first shift will go early and set up on Thursday the 12th. Hope would like to work a shift at the booth, please sign up early.

Our meetings are held the second Tuesday monthly, 7:30 p.m. at Hamburg Rod & Gun Club on Hickox Rd. Anyone interested in trapping is welcomed. Please call ahead during the winter months if weather is bad.

Our next meeting dates are Jan. 12, Feb. 9, March 9. Hope to see you there!

— Patti Wattengel

GENESEE VALLEY TRAPPERS REPORT

Well folks. It’s a new year. Hope y’all had great holidays. GVTA had one wonderful Christmas dinner. I think there were 32 people. Glad if you made it. If not, I hope that you can come next year. Lots of changes around here. Let’s hope they’re all good. First off, all new officers.

Tom Miller Sr., president, Tom Jr., vice president, myself, secretary-treasurer-membership thingy, and, most important, Lynn Swanger, computer guru. She is a great asset. Maybe we can actually get through some auctions now without any hassles (and phone calls)! We all need to offer our sincere thanks to Gordy and Jean for their decades of thankless devotion to the club. As us “young” folks start to take over some of the work around here, let us never forget this club wouldn’t exist without the dedication of Richie, Gordy, Jean, Bob, Bonnie and so many others. We urge you to attend the meetings to express your ideas and critiques.

There’s been some confusion about the auction dates. So, here we go again — Feb. 21 and March 21. The plan is for them always to be on the third Sunday of December, January, February and March.

Are you familiar with DUNN knives? We are raffling a set of four at an Honest value of over $500. We had a fellow tell us at Herkimer that he’s used one for 20 years on beaver, sharpening it twice. But, looks like it finally needs to be touched up again. So, please, send in all your or, even your wife’s money to P.O. Box 21 Victor, N.Y. 14564 Tickets are $1 each or 12 for $10. If you don’t have tickets, we will fill them out or we can send them to you. This looks to be a rough year so, please reach into that moth-eaten wallet and help as much as you can. Don’t put it off. The drawing is this month! Thanks!

Did you realize that ALL members are expected to work at least one day per year? Doesn’t have to be an auction. Maybe sell some raffle tickets, or come to a “work day” in the off season. But, we all gotta give a little to keep things going around here. I’d even settle for someone bringing in a new member or two. Isn’t that outrageous? Are you aware that if you work all four auctions that your membership is free?

To those that aren’t members of GVTA, or, if you are for that matter. If you would like to contribute something towards our state lobbyist, you can send it to us or NYSTA. We will make sure that he receives it. Some of his income is derived from the auctions and, and, as you know, they will be off some this year. What do you suppose will happen to our trapping rights if he’s not there helping us? I believe that three out of five trappers in this state don’t belong to any organization, and therefore take these rights for granted.

Seems like this newsletter is all about what we want you to do for us, right? Well please, take one moment to think about what we have and will continue to do for you. New computer, upgraded building, trapper ed classes, smiley faces, not to mention the best goldang buyers and auctioneer in the whole world. I’ll bet you might even think of a few more.

If you like reading about fur trapping history (as I do), I found a great Web site — www.thefurtrapper.com. You could probably spend 12 hours and not read all the stuff that’s there.

• We had a VERY lengthy discussion on the fur sale held on Dec. 12. Let’s just say we at the club and the sellers were not pleased with the amount the furs were bringing. Not due to poor fur, yes a few pieces had an aroma but most were very nice a few were gorgeous. The main buyers were Jeff Backus and Lonnie Zehr with a couple of others tossing in bids. Thanks Rick for the nice bids on the beavers you got. We are taking steps to make the future sales more “fair.” We have many ideas to go through and we will notify you as soon as we finalize them.

• DEC stated for next year – Fur that require and do not have a possession tag when it arrives, that trapper will receive a ticket for each piece of fur NOT tagged.

• I won a fat skunk thru eBay for the club, per the club’s instruction, and was reimbursed.

• Ed Wright and Al submitted invoiced and were reimbursed.

• Ken Rushy and Gary Stoddard brought in ticket money, good job guys.

• Tim requested to buy an “IFH of CNY deposit only stamp,” voted and passed.

• Please send well wishes to Bob Evans, we’re praying for you, Bob.

• Pratts Falls will be closed from 1/1/10 – 3/31/10 to the Public. We will still have access for our monthly meetings. Remember they are on the second Sunday of the month at 1 p.m. It would be nice to see some different faces there. The gate is open from 12:30 – 1:10 p.m., then we will lock it behind us. Bernie Feldman is the new Supervisor for the park. He can be reached at 315-480-1126. The roof needs attention. The windows and doors need foam and caulk. Any help?

• 22 shells won by Ed Wright, goes with the gun he won at the NRA dinner and Karl Curtis won the #110 trap donated by Bill Howe.

• There is a trapping and fur display at the Manlius Library thru the month of December, please stop by and take a look, very nice!

• The Northeast Sports Show will be held on Jan. 22-24 of 2010 at the NYS Fairgrounds. The Club will again be attending and NEEDING VOLUNTEERS to man the booth. This is our biggest fundraiser of the year, so please try and attend. Our raffle items will be the same as last year. Please sell your tickets as the drawing will be at the end of the show.

• The March Fur Sale is set for March 6 at the Pompey Rod and Gun Club.

• THE NEXT MEETING IS Jan. 10 at 1 P.M. REMEMBER THE GATE GETS LOCKED AT 1:10 P.M. Respectfully submitted.